


Sometimes I just get carried away.

by lineadecuatro (Maiucha)



Category: Almost Human
Genre: Accidental Marriage, F/F, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 05:29:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1214440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maiucha/pseuds/lineadecuatro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I remember thinking the idea of going out drinking with my team was probably ill-advised.  Regretfully I can confirm that now."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes I just get carried away.

**Author's Note:**

> This story belongs to the [Femslash February Trope Bingo](http://femtropebingo.tumblr.com), was inspired by the prompt "accidental marriage" and was beta'd by Arianna (who, in this story in particular, could read through my attempts to make sense, set me right and help me to write. I'm never going to stop thanking her).
> 
> Happy reading!

Scowling against the incessant throbbing in her skull, Sandra swallowed two pills without water just as John Kennex entered her office, without knocking, as usual. Disgruntled, not in the mood for nonsense, his smug smile made Sandra want to pull out her gun and shoot him in the face - or in the good leg.

Wearily, she sighed at the aggression caused by the hangover and wrestled it under control as she waved him forward. 

"Good morning, Captain," he said, so loud she winced even as she wondered about the small electric pad he was carrying, clearly not one from a crime scene or from the precinct.

"How is that you're not hung over and irritable?" she complained. 

"I didn't drink that much?" John suggested with a grin. Looking thoughtful for a moment as he studied her, his smile morphing into sympathy, he added, "Or maybe I have a higher resistance."

Closing her eyes for a moment, wishing she was somewhere else – or more, that she'd been far more sensible the night before -- she shoved her irritation aside and hoped the pain pills would soon kick in. "What can I do for you?" she finally asked, just wanting to get the meeting over with. When John's smile grew even wider, she began to wonder if she should be worried. 

"You don't remember much about last night, do you?"

"I remember thinking the idea of going out drinking with my team was probably ill-advised. Regretfully I can confirm that now."

"Dorian recorded Paul singing," John said, still grinning. "We'll show you later. There's also a video of Rudy trying to say every element on the new periodic table in alphabetic order. Dorian says he did pretty good; I wasn't really listening."

"Yes, because if you were, I'm sure you'd be able to tell if he was doing fine," she replied, deliberately sarcastic. 

"Shush or I won't get to the interesting part."

Interesting part? Definitely beginning to worry, Sandra steeled herself for whatever he was about to tell her. After having seriously over-imbibed while at the Academy, and hating the how sick she'd been, she'd not gotten drunk in years; certainly not so drunk that she couldn't remember what had happened. But they'd all been working non-stop for the past two weeks and they'd finally had InSyndicate in a corner. But then it had all fallen apart. The evidence vanished. All the connections were dead, the witnesses disappeared, the leads went nowhere. Their fifteen days of police work was totally wasted. Discouraged, frustrated beyond measure, furious that there had to be a leak somewhere that badly needed plugging, she and everyone else on the team had had reason to drink themselves into oblivion. But, clearly, it had been a mistake. 

"What else?" Sandra finally asked when John just stood there, gloating.

"Congratulations," John chirped with far too much merriment, and handed her the pad he was holding. 

Sandra stared at it, stunned by what it meant. Blinking, wanting to believe it was a joke, she manipulated the pad, enlarging the image, then reducing it, hoping against hope that it wasn't true. "This is impossible."

"Not really; Richard is an ordained minister, did you know?" John grinned. "It was his idea and he even knew where to get the needed papers."

"At," Sandra squinted at the pad, "four AM?"

"Never said it was the legal way." John shrugged, unconcerned and still looking like he was having far too much fun with this.

"And you let me," Sandra charged, looking up to meet his gaze. "You let us go through with it?"

"I didn't want to ruin the mood," John explained with all innocence, as if that was justification enough. She shook her head, disappointed in him, but more in herself. "And,” he added, "you asked me to be your best man. It was a precious moment." 

Despite herself, Sandra couldn't resist a small smile. She knew her team wouldn't hold her drinking against her, and it sounded as if they'd all had a very good time. Maybe, just maybe, the silliness, the camaraderie of it all, had been just what they'd needed. Whatever. It was done and she had to deal with it. 

"Send her in," Sandra finally directed, deciding she'd had enough of John’s gloating for the day.

"Will do," he agreed easily but, stopping by the door, his tone more serious, he added, "one thing."

"Yes?"

"You do remember she's a chrome, right?"

"Yes, so?" But as soon as Sandra's words left her mouth she understood John's point: chromes can't get drunk. Reeling with the implications, she gaped at him, then looked away. " _Oh_ ," she murmured, unable to find words. 

"Yep, that," John nodded before turning away.

*

Valerie knocked at the doorframe, looking everywhere but at Sandra as she entered. When Sandra gestured to the chair, Valerie sighed as she sat, her posture stiff and uncomfortable, her expression unsure… embarrassed? With a small frown, Sandra suddenly realized that maybe there was more going on than just a game at her expense. Standing, she flicked the wall switch to shift from clear to opaque glass to give them some privacy. Valerie gave her an uncertain look as she took her seat behind the desk. For a moment, Sandra studied the other woman in silence, astonished to see a slight flush on Valerie cheeks and then she noted how tightly Valerie had her fists clenched, as if to keep her hands from trembling.

The pad on her desk flashed, drawing her attention. Sounding as if she was unnerved by the silence, Valerie blurted, "Considering the time, the situation and that Richard was the minister, I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to obtain an annulment."

Sandra nodded. "I thought there were regulations to prevent this sort of thing."

"The place Richard took us didn't look like it followed many regulations," Valerie said with the ghost of a smile.

"That bad?" Sandra asked, honestly curious.

"I'm pretty sure we could have asked for anything, and they would have sold it to us," Valerie replied with a rueful nod. "I'm not even sure I want to know how both Richard and John knew about the place."

"I'm sure I don't want to," Sandra replied, her tone dry but she allowed a hint of amusement to further the now relaxed mood. "So only Richard sang?"

"Of course not," Valerie countered with a wide smile. "You, Dorian, Rudy and I tried to convince Richard and John to sing a duet, but they wouldn't agree to be quite that cooperative."

"Too bad. It would have been nice for blackmail."

"Yeah," Valerie agreed, her eyes sparkling now. "They do get along much better after a few drinks."

"Hmm, I wouldn't want to rely on that," Sandra replied, but allowed a wistful note. The animosity between those two presented a major challenge to team effectiveness; if partying together encouraged better relations, it would be worth a try but she feared it could as easily lead to blows. 

Valerie nodded her agreement. Her smile matching Sandra's, she reached to pick up the electric pad from the desk. "I'll deal with this," she said.

"Tell me if you need anything."

"I'll probably need your signature," Valerie said as she stood and turned toward the door. "We can drop the papers at the courthouse after shift next week and go have dinner." 

Sandra nodded at her, muttered an "okay" while she started reaching for the case files in her inbox. When she didn't hear Valerie leave, she looked up to find her still standing in the doorway, looking uncertain but wistful, as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how. 

With the hope that she wasn't misreading the situation, Sandra let her smile widen and her tone was deliberately warm as she added, "I agree it would be more appropriate to start with dinner rather than jump directly to a drunk wedding." 

Valerie beamed at her with evident delight. "You weren't that drunk."

"I'm just glad I didn't sing. I didn’t, did I?"

"No," Valerie assured her but then feigned sorrow as she playfully added, "but I was hoping for a love serenade."

"Let's focus on the dinner," Sandra replied, her tone restrained but she knew there was more in her eyes as she added, "for now."

Valerie nodded in agreement. Still grinning, happiness now dancing in her eyes, she replied, "For now".


End file.
